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| April 3, 2002 | Wednesday | Muharram 19,1423 |
ABL, PIA confirm berth in semifinals
ABL 2 PTCL 1
PIA 6 Sindh C 0
HBL 3 Punjab W 0
Army 8 Sindh W 2
Police 3 Punjab C 1
LAHORE, April 2: Allied Bank with 12 points and defending champions PIA with nine points have confirmed their berth in the semifinal of the 49th National Hockey Championship from Pool “B” at the end of the fourth round at the National Hockey stadium on Tuesday.
In Pool “A” the decision of the last four will be decided after Wednesday’s matches between Habib Bank vs National Bank and Army vs Wapda.
Meanwhile, six more matches were decided Tuesday.
In one of the best matches of the championship in pool A, three goals by Asif Ahmed Khan helped group leaders NBP to hold Wapda to a 4-4 draw.
Both teams were locked 2-2 at halftime.
NBP took the lead when international Muhammad Nadeem converted a short-corner in the 10th minute. Wapda retaliated through Shahid Rabbani in the 14th minute to equalise. Wapda then went on to score their second goal when Mudassar Ali Khan converted a short-corner in the 15th minute. However, NBP again levelled the proceedings through Asif in the 31st minute.
In the second session, Asif then put NBP ahead 3-2 by scoring a field goal in the 40th minute. But Wapda again earned the equaliser (3-3) through Muhammad Ashraf Ali in the 41st minute. Wapda tehn tookover the lead 4-3, when Shahid converted a penalty-corner in the 54th minute. However, NBP secured the equaliser in the 68th minute when Asif struck again with his third goal.
Group “B” leaders ABL mustered a 2-1 win against PTCL to earn their fourth consecutive win in the championship.
The bankers took an early lead when Olympian Muhammad Sarwar banged home a field goal in the first minute of play. The slender lead remained intact till halftime.
In the second session, ABL managed to double the lead in the 68th minute through former Olympian Asif Bajwa, who sounded the board with a field goal.
PTCL scored the consolation goal in the last minute of the play through Ghazanfar Ali.
PIA registered a thumping 6-0 win over Sindh Colours after leading the first session of play 4-0.
Irfan Mahmood scored three goals while Aamir Saleem added two goals. S M Tariq chipped in with one goal.
Irfan put the national carrier ahead by scoring his first goal in the 5th minute through a penalty-corner. Tariq made it 2-0 in the 12th minute with a field goal. Irfan then struck his second goal in the 23rd minute to increase the lead 3-0. Amir then netted his first goal in the 32nd minute which gave PIA a commanding 4-0 lead at the breather.
In the second half, PIA surged further ahead 5-0 with the third goal from Irfan in the 49th minute. Amir scored his second in the 67th minute to take his team through to a 6-0 triumph.
Two goals each by Dilawar Husain, Muhammad Saleem and skipper Muhammad Irfan, enabled Army to crush Sindh Whites 8-2. Muhammad Munir and Tabarak Husain chipped in with one goal apiece.
For Sindh Whites Mudassar Abbas and Shabbir A Khan shared the scoring honours.
The soldiers led the first half 3-0.
Dilawar scored the first goal for the Army in the 15th minute with the second goal from Munir coming in the 21st minute. Irfan scored his first goal in the 34th minute to give the Army a 3-0 lead in the first half.
In the second half, Sindh Whites scored their first goal through Mudassar in the 37th minute. But the Army again increased the margin 4-1 through Tabarak, who netted a goal in the 42nd minute. Dilawar earned his second goal in the 57th minute to increase the lead 5-1. The soldiers maintained their onslaught with Saleem scoring in the 59th minute and sounding the board once again seconds later, as Army coasted ahead 7-1. Irfan scored scored again in the 63rd minute to further increase the margin 8-1. Sindh pulled one back when Shabbir scored a field goal in the 64th minute.
Habib Bank mustered an easy 3-0 win against Punjab Whites. The winners had a 2-0 lead in the first half.
Ejaz Rasool drew first blood for the bankers scoring a field goal in the seventh minute. Haider Husain saw HBL forge ahead 2-0 by netting a goal in the 10th minute.
After the breather, the bankers on the offensive once again gained their third success when Kashif Jawad scored a field goal in the 51st minute.
Police registered their first win in the championship by beating Punjab Colours 3-1. The winners were leading 1-0 at half time.
Yamin scored the only goal of the first half in the eighth minute of play. Arshad Malik doubled the lead in the 41st minute. Punjab Colours scored their solitary goal through Muhammad Yousaf who converted a short-corner in the 52nd minute. Police gained their third goal through Farzand in the 55th minute to take their team through to a 3-1 win.
Wednesday’s Fixture: Sindh W v Punjab W and Police v Sindh Colours at 12.10pm; Wapda v Army and PTCL vs Punjab Colours at 2pm; HBL vs NBP and PIA vs ABL at 4pm.
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